[Guest (MBNZ)]

My 560 SL has burned out two distributors in the last 15K miles. <br> <br> Is this a common problem with these vehicles? Or does mine perhaps have something (else) wrong Any ideas?<br> <br> Thanks in advance...

 

[Guest (MBNZ)]

What do you mean by 'burned out'? <br> <br> Have not had any problems with my '86.

 

[Guest (MBNZ)]

Hi Stan<br> <br> I guess I didn't explain it very well, did I? Actually, it's the rotor inside the distributor that 'burns out'. The first time it happened, my car just stopped running while driving in the center lane of a freeway. The little metal thing on the end of the plastic rotor was all burned looking, and the plastic had cracked.<br> <br> Now, not all that many miles later, the car started running rough at idle, so hubby checked the rotor.....sure enough, the metal part is quite burned looking. <br> <br>

 

[Guest (MBNZ)]

Ditributor rotors are probably the weakest link in the ignition system. Make certain you step up for the real Mercedes part on the rotor, I managed a Honda Dealership parts department for 10 years and the #1 tow-in was customers who saved $2.50 to buy an aftermarket distributor rotor instead of the OEM part. We put in a Honda rotor, charged them $5.00 total, and sent them off. Back to your car... you can extend the life of the cap and rotor + make your car run smoother by cleaning the buildup off periodically. I use a small wire brush attachment on a dremel rotary tool to clean the rotor and contact points on the distributor of all my cars at the service interval. Make sure you clean all the debris out of the cap and leave no body oil behind to cause arcing. Finally, I noticed that the rotor on my '76 450SLC was mis-aligned 'below' the contacts on the cap. I made a small plastic insert to raise the rotor 1/8' and the car immediately started faster and the rotor is wearing less rapidly now. The rotor alignment thing may be an anomaly with my car but it is worth looking in to.

 

[Guest (MBNZ)]

Thank you so much for posting this information Don! Will check out the alignment and make sure that we have MBZ parts.

 

[Guest (MBNZ)]

'Lo Ladybug -<br> <br> Don gave good advice - it's usually the simple things. If what he said doesn't work, you may want to have the ignition coil checked (controls voltage to the spark plugs via the distributor). Generally, the coils just go bad, but there's always a possibility.<br> <br> Good luck & trouble-free driving!